Johanna Harmon
Johanna Harmon was born in 1968 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but spent most of her childhood in Tempe, Arizona. Johanna began designing and recording visual observations at the age of seven, but it wasn’t until almost two decades later that she was introduced to the traditional language of art at the Scottsdale Artists’ School in Arizona, the Fechin Art Institute in Taos, New Mexico, and the Art Students League of Denver in Colorado. There, she studied painting alongside prominent portrait and figure artists with varied artistic philosophies and approaches such as Carolyn Anderson, John Asaro, Mark Daily, Daniel Gerhartz OPAM, Quang Ho OPAM and C.W. Mundy OPAM. Following her 2014 OPA award, she expanded her understanding further by studying contemporary realism with Daniel Sprick, and abstract realism with David A. Leffel OPAM and Sherrie McGraw OPAM.
2020 brought two new distinctions for Harmon, the first receiving Signature Status with the Portrait Society of America and the second receiving Master Signature Status with Oil Painters of America. Her work has been presented in numerous solo, group and juried exhibitions including the Portrait Society of America (PSoA), Oil Painters of America (OPA), Art Renewal Center, California Art Club, and Scottsdale Artists’ School, where she received numerous prestigious awards. Most recently, her painting 'Nature's Reverie' was awarded Best Signature Award of Excellence at the 2019 OPA National Juried Exhibition, 'Messengers' awarded 2nd place at PSoA's 2017 Art of the Portrait Conference and 'Golden Orchids' was honored with both a Certificate of Excellence at PSoA's 2016 International Portrait Competition and 1st Place in the Non-Commissioned Portrait Category of PSoA's 2015 Members Only Competition. In 2013, Harmon received OPA Signature Member designation, and acceptance into OPA’s 22nd National Juried Exhibition where she received her second Gold Medal Award, becoming the first artist to receive two OPA National Exhibition Gold Medal Awards in the organization’s history. Her first Gold Medal was awarded in 2007.
Her work has been published in American Art Collector, International Artist, Fine Art Connoisseur, Southwest Art, Artbook of the New West, and Focus Santa Fe and is collected internationally.
Harmon was honored to be Juror of Awards for Oil Painters of America’s 2022 National Juried Exhibition, on the faculty of PSoA's 2019 Art of the Portrait Conference and OPA's 2017 National Convention, Curator and Juror for two North River Arts Society's Focus On Figures exhibitions, and Juror Of Awards for Oil Painters of America's 2015 Western Regional Juried Exhibition.
She has taught workshops at Scottsdale Artists’ School in Arizona, North River Arts Society in Marshfield Hills, Massachusetts, The Coppini Academy of Art in San Antonio, Texas, and The Art Student’s League of Denver in Colorado. Her emphasis is on the clarification of visual intention, while nurturing the overall painted subject. This pivotal understanding defines her work today. She credits Cecilia Beaux, Nicolai Fechin, John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla, Abbott Handerson Thayer and Anders Zorn as inspiration.
